Staff

Priest-in-Charge

The Rev. Canon Valerie L. Balling

Rev. Valerie grew up in Piscataway, New Jersey. During her childhood, Rev. Valerie and her family were members of St. Paul’s in Bound Brook. She attended Michigan State University, where she earned her B.A. in English and was an active participant in the Episcopal Ministry at MSU.  Following college, Rev. Valerie intended to become a High School English teacher, however God had different plans and directed her to volunteer for two years in Kentucky with the Christian Appalachian Project. While serving in KY, she attended Trinity Episcopal Church in Danville. After volunteering, she came back to New Jersey in 1998 and found work as the Administrative Assistant to the President of PRICE Systems, L.L.C., a software company in Mt. Laurel.  Rev. Valerie discerned her call to ordained ministry while attending St. Peter’s in Medford, and served as a Postulant at St. Paul’s, Camden.  She began her seminary training at The General Theological Seminary in New York City in 2002 and earned a Master of Divinity in 2005. She also earned a Master of Science of Church Management from Villanova University in 2011. She was called to be Vicar of St. Stephen’s in Mullica Hill, where she has served until 2011, and was then called as Rector of St. Barnabas in Monmouth Junction. At the 2019 New Jersey Diocesan Convention, she was named an Honorary Canon of Trinity Cathedral. In August of 2019, she "came home" to begin her tenure as Priest-in-Charge of St. Peter's, Medford.